The game was scrapped three minutes into the second half and Town officials believed the club’s 2,283 travelling fans should get their money back.

The Football Association subsequently hit the Seasiders with a £50,000 fine and a Football League Disciplinary Commission imposed a suspended three-point deduction but ruled that compensation for Town fans would be impractical and unfair.

Bob Pepper, former secretary of HTSA, took up the campaign with the ombudsman after the commission’s decision notice was published at the end of August.

The three-man commission said that compensation for Town fans only would be “inequitable” as only around 200 home fans were to blame for the abandonment. That left almost 6,000 Blackpool or “neutral” fans also entitled to a pay out.

The Independent Football Ombudsman (IFO) was set up in 2008 by the Football Association, the Premier League and the Football League.

The IFO, based at Great George Street, Leeds, acts as the “final stage” in complaints to the various football authorities and is described as the “independent and final arbiter of football complaints.”

The IFO is history professor and Birmingham City fan Prof Derek Fraser. His deputy, Alan Watson CBE, is a football referee and a former Parliamentary watchdog who investigated complaints against Government departments.

After a complaint has been investigated the ombudsman’s findings will be published and recommendations made to the relevant football body. If that body rejects the recommendations it must publish reasons why. The ombudsman has no enforcement powers.